Wednesday, October 04, 2006

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

This was in today's inbox from "MF" (and you really do need to learn how to post comments):

Dear Mike,Interesting blog . . . I would like to see Dolan promoted out of here. Would rather see him get Baltimore (less prestigious than New York or Chicago), besides I want BURKE in Chicago!I hope and pray that if Dolan is leaving he doesn't saddle us with another bad auxiliary. Frederick would be a DISASTER. I cannot; however, share your enthusiasm for Hartmann. Are you related to him? We were parishioners at Christ King when he was first ordained. While he was reverent in his motions on the Altar, I am always suspicious of a priest who goes incognito to a bar. with faith and prayers, MF

Plenty that could be said. I want to focus on the last part. No, not a relative. What kind of a bar have you seen him going into? Presuming it is your everyday, ordinary tavern, I really can't fault a priest for going into a bar. Incognito? Some would complain if priests went into bars in habit; some do complain if they go incognito. So long as it is a respectable establishment, and the priest doesn't go in nightly...why not? I'd prefer incognito in a bar to watch a game with friends compared to a whole lot of the other options.

What a waste of time this discussion is. Why can't a priest go to a bar? Look at our ethnic heritages - Irish, German, Italian - they all know how to have a good time in a tavern. That doesn't mean it's immoral or unethical. Why can't a priest just go to a bar wearing normal clothes, have a beer with friends and not have to be bombarded by criticism, people coming up to him, having to hear drunken confessions, etc. No wonder we have so few priests with so many people wanting to control their lives...let him have a beer at a respectable bar (of which we are blessed with many in Milwaukee) - we're not Methodists...